Sir John Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor NEXT Character Analysis Falstaff is the outrageous, dirty rotten scoundrel who ate, drank, and trash-talked his way into our hearts in Henry IV Part 1 and Henry IV Part 2 . And people cannot get enough of this guy. Audiences adore him, literary critics can't stop writing about him, Verdi wrote an opera about him, and there was even a brewing company named after him. No wonder theater tradition tells us that Shakespeare's monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, loved the larger-than-life figure so much in these plays that she demanded a spinoff about Falstaff in love. Hey, we like him too—and we're definitely thrilled to see that Falstaff's up to his old tricks in The Merry Wives of Windsor, especially since we know for a fact that (spoiler alert) Shakespeare kills him off in Henry V . When we catch up with Falstaff in the town of Windsor, he's still a portly, disgraceful knight who loves food, booze, chasing women, and dazzling us with his wit and his verbal chops. He's also still the same irreverent guy with a brilliant sense of humor and healthy dose of self-mockery.

Falstaff the Gold-Digging Con Artist Oh. Did we mention that he's also still a thief, a liar, and a "cony-catching rascal" who will try to con anyone, anywhere, anytime? When he rolls into town with hardly a penny in his pocket, he decides he'll try to seduce a couple of rich housewives in order to solve his cash flow problems. Check out how he brags to his buddies about his scheme: Well, sirs, I am almost out at heels. [...] There is no remedy: I must cony-catch, I must shift. [...] Briefly, I do mean to make love to Ford's wife [...] she has all the rule of her hus- band's purse; he hath a legion of angels. (1.3.27-46) Feeling a little out of your depth? Shmoop to the rescue. Our specialized team of Elizabethan-English experts has provided this translation: Hey, dudes, I'm totally broke. It's time to get my con-artist on, because I'm not about to get a job.

I'm going to get my swerve on with Ford's wife; he's rich, and his wife's got her own AmEx card. Cha-ching! Hey, why not? After all, Falstaff's pretty sure he saw Mistress Ford and Mistress Page undressing him with their "eyes" and checking out his, um, "parts" (1.3.51-53). Hmm. Is Falstaff's theme song "Sexy and I Know It" or what? He thinks he's quite the ladies' man, so he takes a run at the wives and sets the entire plot in motion. Falstaff as a Predator We know what you're probably thinking. If Falstaff is a knight, why doesn't he have any money? Good question. Our best guess is that he blew it all on his party-like-a-rock-star lifestyle. (He doesn't exactly strike us as the kind of guy who puts himself on a strict budget.) According to literary critic Anne Barton , guys like Falstaff were a dime a dozen in Shakespeare's England. Barton tells us that poor members of the aristocracy often set their sights on women from rich, non-aristocratic families as a way to generate income ( source ).

In other words, Falstaff is a predator. Or at least a wanna-be predator. He doesn't just go around poaching deer off other men's property (1.1). He runs around trying to "poach" other men's wives, too. But, like we said, the "merry wives" get the last laugh. In fact, Falstaff's the one who winds up wearing a pair of deer antlers when the entire town gets together to teach him a lesson (5.5). Who's the prey now, Falstaff? Falstaff as a Threat to Middle-Class Values Why does this matter? Well, let's think about it for a minute. This play is all about dramatizing the lives of middle-class folks (like the Pages and Fords) who work for a living, right?

(By the way, when we say "middle class," we mean non-aristocrats who were starting to make big bucks in business ventures and mercantile trade during the 16th century.) Basically, the citizens of Windsor see Sir John Falstaff as a guy who represents everything they think is wrong with the aristocracy—a class of people that's depicted in this play as being lazy, immoral, greedy, and over-indulgent. You know, the way all those people waving signs in Zuccotti Park felt about the 1%. Only drunker. So, Falstaff isn't just another dirty old man trying to seduce a couple of married women. He's portrayed as a threat to the middle-class way of life. Okay. Now we know why our "merry wives" spend so much time making fun of his social status. Like the time when they read his cheesy love note and Mistress Ford cracks a couple of sarcastic jokes about how she might "be knighted" by Falstaff if she ever slept with him (2.1.43-48). Go to " Themes: Society and Class " for more about this.

Why Falstaff Gets Punk'd Falstaff's biggest problem in this play is that he seriously underestimates our clever "merry wives" and ends up getting punk'd—three times. Let's quickly recap what happens to him when he's tricked into thinking Mistress Ford and Mistress Page want to sleep with him: 1) He's dumped in a river along with a bunch of dirty, stinky laundry, 2) he's talked into cross-dressing as an old woman and then gets beat up, and 3) he's lured into the woods (while wearing a giant pair of antlers) to be terrorized by a gang of little kids disguised as fairies. Why so harsh, Shakespeare? Well, for one thing, theater audiences always love this kind of slapstick stage humor. (Ever seen a live performance of this play? Crowds go nuts every time Falstaff gets knocked around.) Plus, the Elizabethans had a thing for violent entertainment (ever heard of bear-baiting?) and they loved watching people get publicly humiliated and punished for their bad behavior. Gee, it's a good thing our standards have evolved so much .

Falstaff and Elizabethan Shaming Rituals In fact, literary critic Leah Marcus points out that Falstaff's punishments seem to mirror popular 16th- and 17th-century public shaming rituals that were called "Skimmington or "rough music" ( source ). These rituals often involved dunking adulterers in a pond or river in front of a crowd of locals. Hmm. That sounds a lot like what happens when the would-be-adulterer Falstaff gets tossed in the river. And sometimes the rituals involved dressing up male victims as women and then parading them through the streets where they could be beaten by spectators. Gee. Sounds like what goes down when Falstaff gets beat up in his "old woman of Brentford" disguise. But Falstaff isn't the only character that's made into a chump in this play. Any time a character tries to dupe or prank someone else, they always end up getting punk'd themselves. That's what makes this the kind of zany comedy that has influenced everything from slapstick and screwball comedy to modern day TV sitcoms.

(Go to " Themes: Lies and Deceit " and we'll tell you more about this.) Why Some Literary Critics Hate Falstaff in this Play Some literary critics don't find any of this amusing. Shakespeare scholar Harold Bloom loves Falstaff in Henry IV Part 1 and Henry IV Part 2, but he's pretty disgusted by what happens to the character in The Merry Wives of Windsor. He hates the fact that Falstaff is repeatedly humiliated and says that by "the time that Falstaff, disguised as a plump old woman, has absorbed a particularly nasty beating, one begins to conclude that Shakespeare loathes" the play as well as "himself" ( source ). To tell you the truth, we're not sure how this is much different than what happens to Falstaff in the Henry plays, where he gets tricked by his so-called friends during the infamous Gads Hill robbery (Henry IV Part 1, 2.1) and is eventually "banished" by his former BFF King Henry (Henry IV Part 2, 5.5). But we have an idea.

Maybe Harold Bloom just has a problem with the fact that in The Merry Wives of Windsor, it's two middle-class women that get the better of his beloved character? That may be why he refers to the play as one big "castration pageant" (aka a play that celebrates the spectacle of women attacking Falstaff's manhood). That's not the only reason why some critics have beef with Merry Wives, and, sure, it's true that Falstaff isn't quite as shrewd in Merry Wives as he is in the Henry plays. After all, he gets duped three times and doesn't even see through Master Ford's ridiculous "Brooke" disguise. But is he really truly all that different from the character we see in the Henry plays? Never mind what the literary critics think. You decide. What? You want to know more about Falstaff? Head on over to " Symbols, Imagery, & Allegory " because he's all over the place in that section.

Shakespeare's Plump Playboy Comes to Life in Verdi's Falstaff | The Juilliard School Shakespeare's Plump Playboy Comes to Life in Verdi's Falstaff Author April 2009 “Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve a capon and eat it? wherein cunning, but in craft? wherein crafty, but in villany? wherein villanous, but in all things? wherein worthy, but in nothing?” Costume sketch by Sam Fleming for the character of Falstaff. Costume sketch by Sam Fleming for Mistress Quickly in the J.O.C. production of Falstaff. Body So said Prince Hal in the second act of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I. The object of his ridicule was Sir John Falstaff—a knight of mammoth proportions, known throughout the Windsor taverns for his indulgence, pomposity, cowardice, and of course, his remarkable girth. Yet Hal, awaiting his throne as King Henry V, at first found a certain allure in Falstaff ’s hedonistic old age. The knight’s enthusiasm for life offered an attractive alternative to the pieties and properness demanded by the royal court.

Similar qualities of Falstaff’s character must have intrigued Giuseppi Verdi some three centuries later as he began the preliminary sketches of what would become his final opera. By the time of Falstaff’s composition, Verdi had enjoyed nearly half a century of widespread acclaim throughout Europe. From Nabucco (1842) to Otello (1887), he had demonstrated on repeated occasion his knack for communicating tragedy. In 1890, to most of the Italian music world’s shock, it was revealed publicly that Verdi had been collaborating once again with librettist Arrigo Boito—this time, on a comic opera. It was hard to believe that Verdi, who had recently explored a character of such complex significance as Shakespeare’s Othello, would bid adieu to the opera world with a work named after a knight known more for his rotundity than his profundity. For conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, who will be on the podium later this month for the Juilliard Opera Center’s performances of Falstaff, Verdi’s turn to opera buffa was a testament to his jovial spirit and optimistic world-view.

“It’s mind-boggling, what was going on in his head, feeling like he could look back at his life and make it into a nice bright laugh—a chuckle at life,” Wilson said. This production will mark the J.O.C. debuts of both Wilson and director Stephen Wadsworth, who have shaped their conceptions of Falstaff around the talent they were given to work with. “It’s all in the casting, and from the casting,” Wadsworth remarked in a recent interview. “There are qualities these actors have as people and as artists that have expanded my notions of what is possible for the characters and situations of the piece.” Wadsworth must have been drawing from a deep pool of talent in casting Falstaff, in which the dynamics of the ensemble are crucial to the success of the farce. As Boito drafted the libretto, he drew liberally from plot elements of The Merry Wives of Windsor, where the unfolding matrix of human relationships and interaction contributes fully to the comedy.

Falstaff, that plump playboy, can’t help but see himself as one of England’s most charming and worthy bachelors—so much so that he composed a pair of audacious (albeit identical) love letters to two of Windsor’s more well-to-do brides, Alice Ford and Meg Page, as part of a grander money-making scheme. The women, not so easily duped, plot their revenge as part of a larger quartet of ladies, after whom Shakespeare’s play is named. Amidst the scheming, other subplots emerge and a number of characters and relationships are highlighted, as Verdi and Boito weave Shakespearean elements with their own original contributions to produce a unique, unified comedy. “Falstaff is a conductor’s dream; we’re all in awe,” Wilson said. “There’s so much in performance in terms of the intricacies of the subtleties Verdi has taken from Shakespeare.” While Falstaff’s plot is more or less based on The Merry Wives of Windsor, Verdi and Boito enrich the title character by drawing from the two other Shakespeare plays in which he appears, Henry IV, Parts I and II.

Honor and loyalty are still familiar virtues to Falstaff in this pair of histories, although he appropriates them in his own idiosyncratic (and often dishonorable) ways. The corpulent knight represents a consistent presence in Prince Hal’s personal transformation. As Hal gradually turns aside from his life of consumption and promiscuity to assume the proper conduct and lifestyle of a king, he leaves Falstaff behind, ultimately rejecting him once absorbed in the power of his throne. “I can definitely connect with that sense of betrayal and disappointment,” said baritone Nicholas Pallesen, who plays the title role in J.O.C.’s production, drawing his interpretation from the Falstaff of Henry IV. “If you bring that element to Verdi’s Falstaff, I think it makes him so much more of an interesting person, and it makes you understand more what he does in the opera. I want people to see Falstaff as a real human being that they can connect to in some way.” Falstaff, then, can be interpreted as a symbol for the constancy of humanity, despite his rather backwards morality. Ironically, he proves honorable at least to his own lack of honor.

“He has been through a lot and is questioning the value of his life as it has taken shape,” Wadsworth observes. “So we are asking what he is really doing or thinking when he writes these identical love letters to two affluent women in town; what is he hoping for? It seems to me that he hopes fervently for some restoration of honor lost, for some restoration of dignity, for a chance to be seen as a viable man once again, and not just a fat pub-crawler.” Practically speaking, Falstaff is a complex and difficult opera to produce, but the obstacles only add to the rewards. The work, known for its brilliant interplay between Verdi’s innovative orchestration and Boito’s clever weavings of text, places considerable demands on the interaction between those onstage and those in the pit. The challenges facing the students aren’t unfamiliar to Wilson, who received three degrees from Juilliard in both flute and conducting. “It’s making it into theater that’s a challenge,” she says. “Once the orchestra can get beyond the technicalities, they can find the lightness, the energy, breathing—maximizing at all times every single note and word.” For Pallesen, the challenges are both technical and physical.

“Falstaff is a really big, big sing. Vocal pacing is a big factor when you’re doing the role. But Falstaff is also a really physical role—especially inside a fat suit, under the stage lights. You sweat a ton, you get exhausted, you run out of breath faster ... I will probably lose 20 pounds doing this opera.” More by Benjamin Laude Cheat sheet: Falstaff | The Opera Blog The Opera Blog Everything you need to know about Verdi’s last opera. Who was the composer? Verdi and (librettist) Boito. Photo via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Giuseppe Verdi You know you’re listening to Verdi when you hear: wonderful melodies and expressive, dramatic orchestral music. You know you’re watching a Verdi opera when you see: brilliant drama and realistic characters – Verdi was incredibly demanding with his librettists, seeking real human stories.. The composer was born in a small village in Parma, Italy to a poor family. By the time he died, more than 80 years later, his fame was such that 28,000 people lined the streets at his funeral to pay their tribute.

He wrote many operas and was always on the look out for a strong subject, often turning to the theatre for inspiration. Today, his operas regularly appear on the bills of opera theatres around the world. He is most famous for Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Don Carlos, Aida, Falstaff and Otello. What happens in the story? Warwick Fyfe as Falstaff in Opera Australia’s 2013 production. Photo by Branco Gaica. He’s old, he’s rotund and he’s broke, but Sir John Falstaff isn’t the kind of man to let any of that get in the way of a good time. Unpaid bar tab? No problem! A timely seduction of two rich wives can solve that. Unluckily for Falstaff, the wives are as rich in wits as they are in cash, and our fat knight will soon discover that the one who laughs last, laughs longest. Who are the characters? Jud Arthur as Pistol, Warwick Fyfe as Falstaff and Kanen Breen as Bardolph in Opera Australia’s Falstaff, 2013. Photo by Branco Gaica.

Sir John Falstaff: an elderly, ruddy-nosed and fat knight, who thinks quite a lot of himself! Bardolph & Pistol: Falstaff’s lackeys Mrs Meg Page & Mrs Alice Ford: the wives Falstaff would seduce Mistress Quickly: a conspirator with Meg and Alice Nannetta & Fenton: Alice’s daughter and her secret lover Ford: Alice’s husband Some things to listen out for In his final opera, Verdi thoroughly enjoyed circumventing the conventions of opera: there is no overture, no opening chorus, and the action doesn’t stop for traditional arias. In Act 1, while the men and women each conspire in their separate groups, Verdi has them sing in different time signatures: the men in 4/4, while the women sing in 6/8. As if to give us a measure of the plot, the orchestra often gives us bursts of instrumental laughter. While Falstaff himself describes the reviving effect of a little alcohol, trilling through the body, the orchestra gives us a massive trill, beginning with a flute and coursing through the whole orchestra. When Nannetta and Fenton are on the stage, listen out for their pretty love music.

Verdi wished it to be “as one sprinkles sugar on a tart, to sprinkle the whole comedy with happy love without concentrating it at any one point.” This production is … Rapid-fire comedy with plenty of visual humour, this beloved Simon Phillips production of Verdi’s quick-witted opera makes the most of Falstaff’s declaration that “the whole world is a jest, man was born a great jester…” A clever set by Iain Aitken is by turns a tavern, a house and a wintry forest, with plenty of theatrical magic to add to the fun. Tracy Grant Lord’s exaggerated period costumes add to the visual humour. A little history Historic Theatre Poster for Falstaff at Trieste. Source: Bibliothèque Nationale de France. In 1887, Verdi declared “After having relentlessly massacred so many heroes and heroines, I have at last the right to laugh a little.” Perhaps haunted by Rossini’s very public taunt: “Though I greatly admire Verdi, I believe him to be incapable of writing a comic opera,” Verdi still held an ambition to write a comic opera (his one other attempt had failed).

Boito, who he had worked with on Otello, was only too happy to oblige, beginning a libretto based on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor with a little help from Henry IV. Falstaff was Verdi’s last opera, and although he delighted in the libretto Boito had prepared, the composer feared he was too old to finish it. It took him some time to commit to the project, and once he did, the composer bemoaned the slow pace at which he worked. In 1891 he wrote to Boito: “[Falstaff] is on the road to madness. There are some days when he does not move, he sleeps, and is in a bad humour. At other times he shouts, runs, jumps, and tears the place apart; I let him act up a bit, but if he goes on like this, I will put him in a muzzle and straightjacket.” It took almost two more years to finish the work. It premièred in February 1893 at La Scala in Milan in front of the who’s who of Italy, who paid more than 30 times the usual ticket price for the privilege.

When the opera concluded, applause for Verdi and the singers went on for more than an hour! Yet, as Verdi had himself predicted, it fell out of favour due to its lack of showstopping arias and traditional forms. Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini did much to return it to the canon and it is now recognised as one of Verdi’s greatest works. Conversation Starters (Or, some trivia in case you get stuck for a topic when in the queue for the bathroom.) While composing Falstaff, Verdi nicknamed the opera “pancione,” – “the big belly”. Verdi wanted Victor Maurel to sing the title role, but the baritone’s contractual demands were so “exorbitant” that Verdi halted the entire project. (The pair eventually reached agreement.) Falstaff is on at Arts Centre Melbourne from December 1.

Tickets and more info: opera.org.au One Response to “Cheat sheet: Falstaff” Daid Thompson A Minute With: Opera director Robert Carsen on the Met's 'Falstaff' | Reuters Thu Dec 5, 2013 | 12:18 PM EST A Minute With: Opera director Robert Carsen on the Met's 'Falstaff' A scene from Verdi's ''Falstaff'' with Ambrogio Maestri (standing center) in the title role. Reuters/Ken Howard By Ellen Freilich | NEW YORK NEW YORK The New York Metropolitan Opera will stage its first new production of Giuseppe Verdi's comic opera "Falstaff" in nearly 50 years on Friday and transmit a live performance next week to 2,000 movie theaters in 64 countries. Canadian opera director Robert Carsen has set the production, which will be conducted by music director James Levine and feature Ambrogio Maestri in the title role, in 1950s England. The December 14 performance will be shown around the globe.

Carsen, whose production of the opera premiered to critical acclaim in London in 2012 and in Milan in 2013 to mark the 200th anniversary of Verdi's birthday, spoke to Reuters about the work, its relevance to audiences and the character of Sir John Falstaff. Q: Does "Falstaff" hold a special appeal for a stage director? A. Oh, yes, of course, because Verdi's "Falstaff" is one of the greatest operas ever written and Falstaff is one of the greatest characters ever invented. (Italian composer) Arrigo Boito's libretto is a fantastic achievement in the astonishing way he wove Falstaff together from Shakespeare's plays so that the character was based on Shakespeare, but still completely his own. Q. Correspondence between Verdi and Boito shows that Boito proposed the project to Verdi when the composer was almost 77 years old and Verdi had some doubts about whether to do it. A. Yes, Verdi and Boito had just had this marvelous success with "Othello" which had premiered at La Scala in February 1887.

It was also very brave of Verdi to compose "Falstaff" in a musical style and language and energy that he had never used in his life before. I can't think of another composer who did something so completely different from his previous work at the end of his life. "Falstaff" was really a radical departure. The music is so astonishing and so text-based and so full of wit and humor and wisdom. Of all of Verdi's operas, "Falstaff" is probably the one most popular with conductors and I have great, great affection for it. Q. Why did you set your production in England in the 1950s? A. I moved the time from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II. So it's still Elizabethan and it's still English. I'm not very good at doing period pieces because my philosophical belief is that everything is modern. Shakespeare's plays were performed in the contemporary dress of his time. I don't see why we can't do them in the contemporary dress of our time - even if the play was written hundreds of years ago or the opera was written more than a century ago. Q. Does "Falstaff" speak to contemporary audiences? A.

In "Falstaff" much of the social criticism worked well for England after the Second World War, for instance the themes of a rising middle class and the anticipation of the sunset of the aristocracy. Falstaff was a member of the aristocracy and he has a very self-important view of that position and the power it gave him .... This juxtaposition is very present in the 1950s because after the Second World War the England where 70 percent of the workforce was in service, working in people's homes, is finished. Of course, Falstaff is also a mythical character so you can't be too insistent about the social critique. Q. What role does the set play in weaving this together? A. Elements of the set, like the oak paneling, actually nod toward Elizabethan England. It reminds you of the Shakespearean period, but also Verdi's period. It draws together three periods: the period in which the piece is often set, the period when the opera was being composed and the period in which it's being watched. It's important to be aware of all three periods and keep them in some sort of balance.

Staging the opera for performances in Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan and the Met in New York also presented a challenge because the Falstaff character Shakespeare wrote is distinctly English, but the opera Verdi wrote is also very Italian. La Scala is where "Falstaff" had its world premiere. So you have to make the production as English as possible, but it must have an Italian character to it as well. I'm curious as to how it will go over in New York which has some aspects of each. (Editing by Patricia Reaney and Jackie Frank) ADVERTISEMENT Conductor Daniele Gatti on Falstaff: 'It's as if Verdi was saying farewell' | Stage | The Guardian How we staged Shakespeare Conductor Daniele Gatti on Falstaff: 'It's as if Verdi was saying farewell' Verdi was 80 when he finished turning Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor into a comic opera.

Gatti’s 2012 production aimed to draw out its tenderness ‘We made it funny, but not too much so’ … Ambrogio Maestri (Falstaff) in Falstaff by Verdi at the Royal Opera House, London, in 2012, conducted by Daniele Gatti and directed by Robert Carsen. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian Share on Messenger Close Giuseppe Verdi was in his late 70s and thinking about retirement when his librettist Arrigo Boito suggested they make an opera from The Merry Wives of Windsor. Verdi had set two plays by Shakespeare before – Macbeth, which was one of his first great successes in the 1840s, and Otello, which he completed in 1887, at the age of 74. Pinterest Fears about age … the composer Giuseppe Verdi. Photograph: AP Verdi was initially reluctant. He worried that he was too old. He had given up on adapting King Lear, an idea that had occupied him for many years – but had wanted to write a comedy, and Boito persuaded him.

The story of two women from Windsor running rings around Shakespeare’s great comic character, Sir John Falstaff , was too tempting to resist. Verdi and Boito were always looking for the most arresting way to tell the story, and if that meant taking liberties, so be it. Shakespeare’s Othello begins in Venice, where we are introduced to the characters and hear that Desdemona has eloped with a mysterious Moorish general. The operatic version opens with Othello’s ship caught in a powerful storm and onlookers watching from the shore – the darkest point of the night, the world inhabited by the evil Iago. Although Verdi’s opera Falstaff is a very different piece, it also throws us straight in . Boito cuts the cast right down and there’s no overture: we’re immediately into a scene in Windsor where Falstaff is drinking with his companions, concocting a plan to make his fortune by playing off the two wives, Mistresses Page and Ford, against each other. It’s totally different from anything Verdi had written before . Not all of it is The Merry Wives, either: Sir John’s great sarcastic aria on honour, L’Onore!

Ladri , derives from Henry IV, Part One. There’s a real lightness to the way Verdi writes the music – though this Falstaff is still fat (in letters the composer called him pancione, or “pot belly”), he’s not a buffoon. In a way, that’s part of the joke – he’s a knight, and knows what elegance and refinement should be. But although Falstaff is a comic opera, there’s a huge amount of melancholy here, too. Pinterest ‘It’s hard not to feel that Verdi, who was 80 when he finished the piece, was in some ways writing about himself’ … Daniele Gatti. Photograph: Hiroyuki Ito/Getty Images Sir John is a man of 55, not elderly, but he seems to know that life is over. There’s a moment at the beginning of act three I particularly love: Sir John has been cajoled to hide in a laundry basket, then thrown into the Thames, a very funny and hectic scene. He’s drying off, recovering himself from the humiliation, and Verdi gives him a solo, Ehi! Taverniere! He’s calling to the innkeeper for wine to warm himself up.

“Tutto declina,” he sings. “Everything is crumbling.” It’s full of regret and nostalgia; he knows that his followers will desert him. It’s hard not to feel that Verdi, who was 80 when he finished the piece, was in some ways writing about himself. It’s as if he’s saying farewell. When we staged a new production of Falstaff at the Royal Opera House, London , in 2012, the director, Robert Carsen, decided to set it in the 1950s instead of the 1590s: a very English world, with the Garter Inn as a hotel and Ambrogio Maestri, who was our Falstaff , wearing a tweed jacket. Mistress Ford had a wonderful kitchen that was coloured bright peach. We made it funny, but not too much so. I liked it when audiences smiled rather than laughed. There’s bitter kind of tenderness in the piece. That’s the real message.

Pinterest Kai Ruutel (Meg Page), Ambrogio Maestri (Falstaff) and Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Mistress Quickly) in Falstaff by Verdi at the Royal Opera House in 2012. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian People in England are understandably proud of Shakespeare and think of Sir John being quintessentially English, but as far as we know, Shakespeare based The Merry Wives of Windsor on an Italian source. The Renaissance writer Ser Giovanni writes a similar story of a woman who gets her own back on a man who is two-timing her. Shakespeare’s Falstaff happened to be born in England – but he’s Italian as well. Sir John Falstaff | fictional character | Britannica.com fictional character Alternative Title: Sir John Oldcastle Related Topics Shakespeare and Opera Sir John Falstaff, one of the most famous comic characters in all English literature, who appears in four of Shakespeare’s plays. Entirely the creation of Shakespeare, Falstaff is said to have been partly modeled on Sir John Oldcastle , a soldier and the martyred leader of the Lollard sect.

Indeed, Shakespeare had originally called this character Sir John Oldcastle in the first version of Henry IV, Part 1 , but had changed the name before the play was registered, doubtless because descendants of the historical Oldcastle—who were then prominent at court—protested. He chose the name Falstaff partly because it contained echoes of the name Sir John Fastolf , which he had earlier given to a cowardly knight in Henry VI, Part 1. (The historical Sir John Fastolf was a career soldier who in the second phase of the Hundred Years’ War had something of a reputation as a coward; however, Shakespeare’s presentation of his character was libelous.) Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Falstaff in William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, … Photos.com/Jupiterimages In Henry IV, Part 1 , Falstaff is a boon companion to the young Prince Hal , a type of nonjudgmental father-substitute he calls that “reverend vice . . .

that father ruffian, that vanity of years” (and, in Falstaff’s own imagination, that “kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff”), and throughout the play Falstaff comments on the political machinations with inglorious, reckless, egotistical good sense. In Henry IV, Part 2 , Falstaff and his disreputable crew are rejected by Hal, now Henry V, as he assumes the dignities of the crown. Falstaff’s death is movingly reported in Henry V , but he makes another appearance in The Merry Wives of Windsor , a play that, according to (largely unsupported) tradition, was written at the express command of Queen Elizabeth I , who had wished to see Falstaff in love. This play’s Falstaff, now reduced to an opportunistic and comically unsuccessful seducer, was the subject of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Falstaff (produced 1893) and Otto Nicolai’s Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (produced 1849).

Learn More in these related articles: in William Shakespeare Verdi's 'Falstaff' : NPR Email March 15, 20071:55 PM ET Decked out as the "Black Hunstman," Bryn Terfel's Falstaff is about to get the surprise of his life from friends who are tired of his arrogant antics. Brett Coomer/Houston Grand Opera hide caption toggle caption Brett Coomer/Houston Grand Opera At age 79, composer Giuseppe Verdi caused a sensation with Falstaff, the first comic opera he had written in more than 50 years. Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Getty Images Falstaff thinks he's at the mercy of mysterious woodland 'spirits,' in the final scene of Verdi's Falstaff. Brett Coomer/Houston Grand Opera hide caption toggle caption Brett Coomer/Houston Grand Opera BACKGROUND: You may be familiar with Sir John Falstaff from a trio of dramas by Shakespeare: Parts 1 and 2 of Henry IV, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Even so, you'll find that the roly-poly knight takes on even more vitality in Verdi's final opera.

The score is overflowing with wit and revelry, and brims with insights into human nature. Verdi was famous for his love of Shakespeare, and already had Macbeth and Otello under his belt when, while in his late 70s, he was casting about for the subject of a new opera – this time a comedy. It was his friend and librettist Arrigo Boito who suggested The Merry Wives of Windsor. Boito worked up a rough draft, Verdi loved it, and by 1890 the two had completed Falstaff. It had its premiere at La Scala in 1893. ACT ONE: The opera is set in Windsor, England, in the early 15th century, during the reign of Henry IV. Verdi immediately signals the comic nature of the work with an oddly off-beat C-major chord. From then on, the action is fast and furious. We meet Sir John Falstaff sitting in the Garter Inn, with a pair of scruffy companions, Bardolph and Pistol. All three are knights who have seen better days. Falstaff is putting two letters into envelopes. Nobody has the money to pay the bar bill, and Falstaff reveals his plan to improve their financial situation.

His envelopes contain love letters addressed to two wealthy, married women, Alice Ford and Meg Page. Seduce one of them, he thinks – or maybe both of them – and his money troubles are history. Falstaff wants Bardolph and Pistol to deliver the letters, but they refuse, citing dubious ethical concerns. Falstaff rails against his buddies, chases them from the inn, and gives his letters to a messenger. In the following scene, Alice Ford and her daughter Nannetta are in their garden talking to Meg Page and Mistress Quickly. When Alice and Meg discover they've received identical letters from Falstaff they know he's up to something, and decide to get even. As the women leave, Mr. Ford arrives with Dr. Caius, Fenton, Bardolph, and Pistol. They all warn Ford about Falstaff's designs. Fenton seeks out Nannetta, his secret lover, and the two steal kisses. The other women return, with a plot to send Mistress Quickly to Falstaff to arrange a rendezvous with Alice. Meanwhile, Ford also has a scheme to get back at Falstaff. In the Act One finale, both the men and women are determined to cut the fat knight down to size.

ACT TWO: Falstaff is back at the Garter Inn. Mistress Quickly arrives and assures Falstaff that both Alice and Meg return his affections. After arranging a meeting with Alice, Falstaff gives Quickly a puny tip, then prances and preens for everyone, anticipating his amorous conquest. Ford enters, disguised as "Master Brook." He says he's also in love with Alice, but she won't give him the time of day. Falstaff brags about his imminent assignation with Alice. Ford is furious, but pulls himself together and he and Falstaff leave arm in arm. At Ford's house, Mistress Quickly tells Alice and Meg about her meeting with Falstaff. Just before Falstaff arrives, the women hide — except for Alice, who sits strumming a lute. Falstaff begins to brag about his youth, when he was a handsome, slender thing. He's cut short when Quickly arrives to announce that Meg is coming. Falstaff jumps behind a dressing screen to hide. Meg brings news that Ford is on the way, and he's angry. When Ford gets there, he and his men search the house and a panicky Falstaff jumps into a basket of dirty laundry.

Ford hears something behind the screen and knocks it over, but finds only Fenton and Nannetta, in a lustful embrace. When the searchers move to other parts of the house, Alice orders her servants to dump the laundry basket out the window and into the Thames. As the act ends Falstaff is seen ignominiously blubbering in the water, and everyone gets a good laugh at his expense. ACT THREE: As the action resumes we find Falstaff — where else? — back at the Garter Inn, drinking. He's wailing about his humiliating adventure when Mistress Quickly turns up. She insists that Alice Ford really is in love with him. To prove it, she produces a note from Alice suggesting a midnight tryst in the woods of Windsor Park, under the big oak tree. The note says Falstaff should come in disguise, dressed as the Black Huntsman whose ghost reportedly haunts those woods. Quickly regales Falstaff with spooky tales of the Huntsman while Alice, Ford, Meg, Caius, and Fenton sneak in. They make a plot to scare Falstaff by dressing up as strange creatures and woodland spirits. Ford then comes up with a plot of his own, to marry Nannetta off to Dr.

Caius – anything to keep her away from Fenton – but Quickly overhears him. The final scene is in the moonlit forest. Fenton is disguised as a monk, Nannetta as queen of the fairies, Meg as a nymph, and Quickly as a witch. They all scatter when Falstaff comes tromping in wearing his ridiculous Huntsman getup, complete with a full set of antlers. Just as he greets Alice, Meg – the nymph – mysteriously warns them of approaching demons. Falstaff shudders and cowers, while Nannetta summons the forest creatures. They emerge from the woods, prodding, poking and pinching Falstaff, who finally is so undone that he drops to the ground and begs for mercy. Then, he recognizes Bardolph behind one of the masks, and the others also reveal themselves. Falstaff is briefly confused, then comes out with booming laugh. He may be a braggart and a cheat, but he does have a healthy sense of humor. Ford proposes to celebrate the betrothal of the Queen of the Fairies – Nannetta – thinking he's about to bless her union with Caius.

At that, Alice brings forward two brides and two grooms, all still in disguise. Without knowing what he's actually doing, Ford pledges his daughter Nannetta to her lover Fenton, and Caius finds himself engaged to Bardolph! Ford realizes he's been tricked, but still gives his blessing. In the finale, Falstaff leads the entire company in declaring, "All the world is a joke."

Question: Who composed an opera about the Shakespeare character Sir John Falstaff?
Answer: VERDI